In 2007, Farmer’s Weekly published ‘Qamata: How deep is the rot?’, a 14-page exposé by Stephan Hofstatter on the state of the Qamata irrigation system. Forming the basis of the feature were documents leaked to Farmer’s Weekly that spoke of the “mysterious disappearance of funds and assets, officials indifferent to, or conniving in, financial mismanagement, protracted and tangled court battles and crippling community conflicts”.

In Hofstatter’s opinion, the issues besetting what should have been one of South Africa’s top irrigation schemes were symptomatic of what was keeping the entire eastern region of the Eastern Cape impoverished. In July 2009, Farmer’s Weekly published ‘Qamata: still on the road to nowhere’, a follow-up to the saga. It was written from the perspective of local farmers, as official comments from government were unobtainable.

PAC stalwart Clarence Makwetu, who was farming on the scheme at the time, summarised the general feeling: “Mismanagement, lack of finance and training have destroyed this scheme. We were just dumped here in 1997 and expected to perform miracles. Nothing is happening because it’s all about votes and lies.”

View from the ground
Despite the scrutiny and bad press, little has changed over the last six years except the leadership. The only noticeable progress has been the planting recently of 800ha of maize. This, however, should be seen in perspective. The area comprises almost 4 000ha of land under irrigation, and the purpose-built Lubisi Dam, when full, can deliver 36 million litres of water per hour onto these hectares. Qamata has the capacity to be the food basket of the Eastern Cape.